Category Archives: Research

How to spot dyscalculia in early childhood

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Dyscalculia: News from the web:

Researchers seem to have found the place where to look for dyscalculia, here is their abstract:

Mathematical learning deficits are defined as a neurodevelopmental disorder (dyscalculia) in the International Classification of Diseases. It is not known, however, how such deficits emerge in the course of early brain development. Here, we conducted functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) experiments in 3- to 6-year-old children without formal mathematical learning experience. We followed this sample until the age of 7 to 9 years, identified individuals who developed deficits, and matched them to a typically developing control group using comprehensive behavioral assessments. Multivariate pattern classification distinguished future cases from controls with up to 87% accuracy based on the regional functional activity of the right posterior parietal cortex (PPC), the network-level functional activity of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and the effective functional and structural connectivity of these regions. Our results indicate that mathematical learning deficits originate from atypical development of a frontoparietal network that is already detectable in early childhood.


Ulrike Kuhl,
Sarah Sobotta,
Legascreen Consortium ,
Michael A. Skeide 

Read all about it: HERE

Check for understanding

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Dyscalculia: News from the web:

Teaching is a two way street. You can be the best teacher ever but if your brilliant messages are not understood by your audience, you will not get the results you were aiming for.

simply asking ‘have you understood?’ This tells us almost nothing – as students rarely so no or could be wrong in saying yes. But, most importantly, there are always degrees of understanding. Instead of asking if, we should ask what student have understood. Rosenshine gives us a nice list of ways teachers can check for understanding.:

Read all about it: HERE

Visual math

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Dyscalculia: News from the web:

New research is presented on the page from Stanford by youcubed from Jo Boaler and it all shows how visual math can be.

our brain wants to think visually about maths. Building students’ mathematical understanding doesn’t just mean strengthening one area of the brain that is involved with abstract numbers, it means strengthening connections between areas of the brain and strengthening the visual pathways.

Read all about it: HERE

How your eyes detect quantities

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Dyscalculia: News from the web:

New research from the University of Sydney sheds light on how we perceive objects and know how many there are:

“Result shows that numerical information is intrinsically related to perception,” said Dr Elisa Castaldi from Florence University. “This could have important, practical implications. For example, this ability is compromised in dyscalculia which is a dysfunction in mathematical learning, so our experiment may be useful in early identification of this condition in very young children. It is very simple: subjects simply look at a screen without making any active response, and their pupillary response is measured remotely.”

Read all about it: HERE